Edward y



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Railway Car.

Patented Nov. 3, 1868.

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Railway Car.

No. 83.731 Patented Nov. 3, 1868.

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Patented Nov. 3, 1868.

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'EDWKRD Y. ROBBINS, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

Letters Patent No. 83,7 31, dated November 3, 1868.

To whom it concern:

'Be itknown that I, EDWARD Y. ItoBBINs, of Oincinnati, Eamilton county, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Passengenltailway Cars, for the purpose of securing greater comfort and safety to passengers; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

My invention chiefly relates- First, to a .form and construction of a railway-car, by which'the greatest possible strength is attained, compatible with lightness and capacity, avoiding the necessity of a general frame-work of bars and rods, or of beams, posts, 850.

Second, to the provisionof the yielding, elastic, or compressible platforms, for the purpose of diminishing the force of a collision.

Third, to the provision of cushions for the sides and top of the interior of the car, instead of the customary projections of wood, metal, and other hard bodies.

Figure 1 represents portions of a railway-car, partly by side elevation, and partly by a longitudinal section.

Figure 2 is a transverse section at the line new.

Figure 3 is a transverse section at the line 3 -31.

' Figure 4 is a partly-sectionized perspective view of .the heating-apparatus.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a form of my yielding platform.

Figure 6 is a modification, showing the feeterests or niches, which may be introduced, if desired.

Figure 7 comprises a transverse and a longitudinal section, showing a modification of the shell or body.

My preferred form of car-body, A, is that of a hol- 7 low cylinder, or cylindroid, composed of thin plates of v wrought-iron, riveted or bolted together, and having ends, B B, of the same material.

The car-body is pierced for doors, windows, and other necessary openings, 0 O G 0', and the margins of these openings are stiffened, either by angle-irons D, canopies E, or otherwise.

Attached to the concavity of the body are hollow ribs, F, which receive fresh and purified air through apertures, f, and discharge it into that portion of the interior of the car between the floor and the seats by apertures, f. The ribs F serve the twofold purpose of stiffening the car-body, and of supplying it with fresh air.

For the purpose of additional stiffening, I attach to the bottom of the car, on its inside, a A-formed iron or keelson, G, and this keelsou may be of such a heighth as to serve to support the floor at its mid-width, in the manner shown, the floor being riveted to it. The heatirigpipes, hereafter shown, should also be made to serve as additional supports to the floor.

In order -to stillfiirther stifi'en the body, and at the same time to improve its external appearance, andrender it less liable to roll down hill if thrown off the track, I attach to each side of the car, somewhat below its mid-height, a semi-tubular strip of sheet-iron, This semi-tube may be .further stiffened by a beam of wood, enclosed within it, or it may be hollow entirely, or it may be made to communicate with the interior of he car by apertures, so as to present lockers or recesses, h, to be suitably padded, and of convenient size and elevation for a foot-rest for the passengers.

The body is still further stiffened by the floor I, which I make of wrought-iron, and firmly rivet to the concavity of the car.

Attached to the top of the car, throughout its length, are two angle-irons, or A-formed strips, K K, which support and are attached to a roof-plate, L. The strips K K, besides serving to stifien the body longitudinally, also, in conjunction with said plate L, serve to enclose an air-duct, M, which, by means of a self-acting 'apparatu's, is opened alternately at one or'the other end, according to themotion of the car. This apparatus consists of two flaps, N N, of which that whichis for the time being presented ibrwards, is opened by the current of created by the motion of the car. Placed in front of each flap is a screen or sieve, O O, of wire gauze, to arrest sparks, cinders, and other mechanical impurities, and behind each flap is a recess or pocket, P P, to catch such particles as may pass through the screen.

Q are holes, which permit the escape of particles arrested by the screen and pocket.

From the duct M the air passes into the ribs F, through the apertures f aforesaid.

0 are ventilators, guarded by caps, c.

The cushions and upholsteryshould be made of noncombustible materials;

For the purpose of warming the car, I employ two stoves, It R, suspended from the car-body, and outside of the same. Each stove has a hot-air jacket, S, from whose upper part ascends a hot-air pipe, T, which, entering the space U, beneath the floor, is carried backward orforward, as the case may be, and is thence passed through the bottom of the car-body, and enters the lower part of the jacket of the other stove. There is, by this means, accomplished a double circulation from each stove-jacket, through the lower part of the car, to the other jacket.

The vsn 1oke-pipes V V are likewise conducted irto the space beneath the floor, and, passing to the end of the car, enter chimneys, W V7, and serve to warm those parts of the floor nearest the end-portions of the car, in the same manner that the hot-air pipes 'l warm the middle portion.

In order to moderate the violence of railway-collisions, I give the platform X, and also the end-portion Y of the roof, a boxed, or chambered shape, and stuff or pack the same with a mass of shoddy, wool, sponge, hemp, caoutchouc, or other compressible and elastic material, a: y, which, 'on an endwise collision of two cars, such as would be sufficient to smash up a common platform, will, by its comprcssure, act to cushion and Weaken the force of the blow. Where the platform is stuffed with hemp, or other fibrous material, it may be floored, or covered with a sheet of India rubber, 1.

The strips, of metal or other material, which support the mass of compressible materialin theplatfbrm, are made to slide together or under the end of the car-body, to permit the compression, in case of collision, to break the shock gradually, and any necessary connection between the body of the car and the coupling-bar, or the bars that support the platform, which '1 add obstruct the sliding of the supporting-strips, on which said mass of compressible material rests, should be made. sharp, as at 9:, fig. 5, so as to cut said strips when pushed against them in case of collision. Instead of this mass ofcompressible material, as India rubber, shoddy, oakum, or coils of wire, being placed in the platform itself, it may haulaced under or within the bottom of the car, just at the ends, and the platform made to slide back upon and against said elastic and compressible mass in case of collision.

The sashes of the windows 0' are held securely within guards, Z, between which and the car-body they are susceptible of being slid horizontally, for opening and closing. The glass in the upper windows may be made to turn 011 a pivot.

In order to lessen the danger to life and limb .from collisions, overturns, break-downs, andlike casualties, I cover the entire sides, ends, and tops of the interior of the car with padding or cushions, 2.

The platform may be formed as in fig. 5, where 4 is a box, resting on brackets 5, on which it is capable. of sliding.

The car-body, either entire, or any part of it, may be composed of two concentric cylinders, or parts of cylinders,7 and 8,with a filling, 9, of timber. \Vhere this form is. adopted, the air-conductors and stiffening-ribs]? may be replaced by angle-irons, 10, between the two shells, and riveted to both, forming channels for the fresh air to pass down.

\Vhile preferring the truly cylindrical form, as that which affords the greatest strength, stifi'ness, and resisting-power, with the least weight and material, I reserve the right to make the car-body somewhat flattened, or of an elliptical, or nearly elliptical shape, in its cross-section, still retaining snfiicicnt curvature, or cylindrical shape, in the sheet-iron shell, which forms the body of the car, to give it the'requisite strength and stiffness, without a general frame-work of bars, rods, or beams.

I have described my wanningapparatus in connection with a metallic car-body of the peculiar form'preferred by 'me, but it is evidently applicable to warming cars of the ordinary wooden construction, in which case the heating-pipes may be placed above the floor, under the seats, along the sides of the car.

I distinctly disclaimas any part of my invention such a frame-work as that shown in either of the patents of B. J. Motte, dated April 4, 1854, and September 24, 1861.

I also disclaim making a car of stares and hoops, as that of George S. Hackers, patented January 21 ,1841.

.Neither doI claim as any part of my invention a packed or spring-coupling bar, or bumper, under and distinct from the platform, as shown in the patents of J. G. J ackson,'J anuary 2u,'1863, J. P; Laird, February 7, 1865, and Fairlamb 8t Judson, January 9,1838.

The leading feature in my car-body is that of a shell with ut a frame-work, the shape of the shell rendering a frame-work unnecessary.

The main cylinder is made first, and is a complete thing in itself. If stiffening-strips or hollow ribs are deemed necessary, they are put on afterwards, and as a subordinate appendage. My cylindrical shell is a complete body in itself, the ribs being but accessory and semi-tubular, and they may be left out entirely, and still the cylindrical shape of the shell itself will give the requisite strength and stifihess.

The patent granted to George S. Hacker, hereinbe fore referred to, is a car-body, made, not of iron, but of wood, and of many distinct longitudinal strips or staves of wood, not fastened one to the other, but held from falling apart by hoops, placed at some 'distance from each other; and if one of the staves were knocked out or in, the whole thing would fall to pieces, neither the stares nor the hoops having in themselves any strength or adhesiveness as one body, but each depending upon the others to keep in place, whereas mine is one continuous body, all firmly fastened together, both longitudinally and circnmferentially.

The devices shown in the above-named patents, for lessening the concussion of cars coming in contact with each other, are not platforms at all, but only bumpers or coupling-bars under or beside, and entirely different from the platform.

My yielding platform serves tho-purpose of a bumper, but does not supersede the ordinary coupling-bar and bumper, which is placed underneath my platform, as shown in my drawings. This coupling-bar and bumper, which is placed under and entirely distinct from my platform, may itself work against a spring, but this I do notclaim.

My invention is a yielding or compressible platform, which, in case of a collision, or other severe and unusual shock, when the coupling-bar is crushed, shall serve as an additional security, a safeguard, acting as a great cushion, yielding gradually, breaking the shock, gathere ing up or receiving the momentum of the car before it shall come in contact with the next car. In all ordinary cases it serves the purpose only of a platform,

not being compressed, or acted on all in any ordinary bumping incident to starting or stopping, but in cases of emergency, or some accident, when the coupling and other bumpers are smashed up, then this platform comes into a second and very important use as a cushion and additional safeguard.

Having thus described my invention,

What I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The body of a passenger-railway car, made of wrought-iron, steel, or other metal, the different parts or sheets being livete'd or otherwise firmly fastened together, the whole forming one continuous shell, of a'cylindrical or approximately equivalent shape, the shape' itself being such, together with the thickness of the metal, as to give the requisite strength and stiffness without the necessity of a general frame-work of bars and rods, or hoops, 81.0.

2. The yielding platform X, constructed and employed as and for the purposes herein specified.

3. The hollow annular ribs F, extending completely around the interior of the cylinrh'ical shell, in the manner and for the purposes specified.

In testimony of which invention, I hereunto set my hand.

Vitnesses:

Gno. H. KNIGHT,

E. ROBBINS.

JAMES H. LAYMAN. 

